Young women out-drink men in the UK

Young women are out-drinking men of the same age in the UK but in no other European country, experts are warning. Analysis of a Europe-wide study also shows that alcohol consumption in southern Mediterranean countries is falling, but rising in northern Europe.
Professor Moira Plant of the University of West of England, a specialist in alcohol studies, warned that if young women in Britain continued to drink in this way, that they could present problems for the health service in the future.

She said: "Britain seems to be the only country in which women are overtaking young men in the 18 to 24 age group." She said that elsewhere, and in the past in Britain, women tended to drink in a much safer way than men.

Professor Plant said that some of the reasons women used not to drink so extensively was because they feared for their physical safety when they did.

A spokeswoman for campaign group Alcohol Concern said: "Recent trends in women's drinking are certainly cause for concern, and we're pleased that this study shifts the issue away from simply being about alcohol-related disorder and the 'ladette' culture, and actually addresses the real health risks of drinking too much. Article here.